What’s cooking?

I like February because it is my birthday month. With it comes two certainties: I will discover yet another wrinkle and my 8-year-old will make me breakfast in bed. If history repeats, her menu will be sans the scrambled eggs, Canadian bacon, buttered toast or any of the usual Great American morning delicacies known to clog arteries and increase cholesterol.

Instead, at 6:30 a.m., I’ll be staring down a bowl of lettuce-laced peanut butter, sprinkled with broken bits of Cheez-Its (for texture, she’ll say), which would probably taste good if I was a hamster. While she scores an A for imagination, her cooking skills need some work.

This brings me to two words we mention in this issue: cooking classes.

South Jersey offers plenty of cooking classes (go to jerseyeatsmagazine.com for a comprehensive list), whether you want to be the next Julia Child or if you simply want to impress the in-laws. Couples looking to do something different this winter can stir up more than a new recipe in classes devoted to pairs. And the classes geared toward children will be just right for my daughter. I always say: Any opportunity to encourage an interest.

She’ll have a good time, meet kids her age and learn to perfect my birthday breakfast.

But I’d better be careful. If she gets too good, I might need a cardiologist.